It has long been considered desirable to improve the taste, appearance and cooking characteristics of meats by introducing additives into the meats, usually before cooking them. For example, solid additives such as pieces of garlic, strips of meat fat, salt pork, pepper or other spices, and the like, may be desirably added to meats such as beef roasts or hams, and the like, prior to cooking them. Semi-solids or liquids such as lard, butter, margarine, oils, cheeses, liquid flavorings, and dyes may also be added to meat or meat dishes (such as meatloafs or pressed or pre-formed ground meats and mixtures of meats and other foods).
Many techniques and devices for introducing additives to meats have been contemplated in the prior art but all have disadvantages. The disadvantages encountered in the prior art are especially severe in connection with the use of conventional devices in restaurants or other food-preparing facilities where the ease and speed of using the apparatus, as well as the appearance and uniformity of the cooked product are desirable. It is also particularly important in such facilities that the devices used be easy to clean, or disposable, to meet sanitation and hygiene requirements.
One common device of the prior art is the larding spike, which typically consists of a grooved tube having a sharp end for inserting it into a body of meat. An example of a larding spike, or a variation thereof, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,473,191. In such a device, a solid or semi-solid food additive such as lard is pressed into the grooved tube of the spike. The spike is then inserted into the body of meat which is to be treated. Ideally, the grooved tube is completely inserted without scraping off any of the lard during the insertion. The grooved tube is then withdrawn from the meat, and an attempt is made to scrape off the lard during withdrawal such that it is uniformly distributed throughout the path cut by the tube through the meat.
Obviously, such devices as larding spikes cannot be used with a liquid additive. Also, it is extremely difficult to distribute any additive uniformly using a larding spike because there is a great tendency for much or all of the additive to scrape off the spike at the entrance into the body of meat or at some especially dense or tough zone inside the meat. Alternatively, when the spike is designed to prevent the additive from being easily scraped off, the additive may adhere to the groove in the spike so tenaciously as to not be completely stripped and removed from it even when the spike is withdrawn from the meat. In any event, a chef or other food preparer using such a device can never be sure how well the additive is distributed until after the meat is cooked and cut open.
Other devices known to the prior art have been constructed essentially like hypodermic needles. These devices also have numerous disadvantages. If the hole or opening in the needle is too large, it cannot be used with liquids without excessive dripping and loss of liquid before it can be uniformly injected and distributed within the body of meat. On the other hand, if the hypodermic needle has a hole, or multiple holes, which are too small, it cannot be used with solids, semisolids or viscous liquids. Moreover, in inserting needles into meat, it is often found that the openings are clogged by torn pieces of meat so that it is very difficult or impossible to inject the contents of the hypodermic syringe. Even when injection is possible, it is extremely difficult to do so uniformly.
Even if the opening or openings of a hypodermic type of injection device do not become plugged or partially filled with meat, the use of the hypodermic technique requires considerable practice and expertise to achieve a uniform distribution of additive. Typically, the hypodermic needle-type of apparatus is used by inserting the needle, injecting a small amount of additive, withdrawing the needle partially out of the meat, injecting an additional amount of additive, further withdrawing the needle, and making further injections until all of the additive is used or the needle is withdrawn completely from the meat. This technique has a tendency to produce pockets in the meat which are rich in additives; however, between the pockets, there are zones which have no additive at all.
When a hypodermic device having a large needle with openings sufficiently large to use with solid, semi-solid or viscous liquid additives, such as margarine, are used, the openings in the hypodermic tend to fill with meat. Equally bad, they may bend and tear the tissue or even cut out a plug of meat as the needle is inserted. As this occurs, the torn meat may displace part of the margarine, or other additive, depositing it in a lump in the body of meat, again causing a very nonuniform distribution of additive. Moreover, even if the chef can somehow inject the additive uniformly, the melting of the additive as the meat is cooked permits it to settle to the bottom of any holes or pockets produced by the tearing or severing of the meat tissues.
Other techniques for introducing and distributing additives in meat have been tried. These range from simply scoring the surface to cutting into the meat and manually depositing the additive, either using knives or highly complex injection devices. All of these techniques suffer from one or more deficiencies. Moreover, many techniques create sanitation and hygiene problems because the apparatus used is extremely difficult to clean. This is a particularly severe problem when devices having intricate configurations are used, since these may create traps for small quantities of meat or additives in small passageways or openings.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for introducing and distributing additives in bodies of meat while lessening or eliminating the foregoing and other problems of the prior art.